Reliability Report -- 1999 - Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission

Outage data relating to major events are to be excluded from the
calculation of reliability indices. In order to avoid the inappropriate exclusion of
outage data, the Commission has implemented a process whereby an EDC must
submit a formal request for exclusion of service interruptions for reporting
purposes, accompanied by data which demonstrates that a service interruption
qualifies as a major event.
For the calendar year 2005, 31 requests for exclusion of major outage data
relating to major events were filed by the EDCs. Of these requests, 25 were
approved and six were denied. Three decisions were appealed; one appeal was
granted. A major event exclusion request may be denied for a variety of
reasons, including such things as the event not meeting the 10% of customers
interrupted threshold or equipment failure without supporting maintenance
records.
Reliability Performance Benchmarks and Standards
As currently established, the performance benchmark represents the
statistical average of the EDC’s annual, system-wide, reliability performance
index values for the five-year time period from 1994-1998. The benchmark
serves as an objective level of performance that each EDC should strive to
achieve and maintain, and is a reference point for comparison of future reliability
performance.
The current performance standard is a numerical value that represents the
minimal performance allowed for each reliability index for a given EDC.
Performance standards are based on each EDC’s historical performance
benchmarks. Both long-term (rolling three-year) and short-term (rolling 12-
month) performance standards have been established for each EDC. The
performance standard is the minimum level of EDC reliability performance
permitted by the Commission and is a level of performance beyond which the
company must either justify its poor performance or provide information on
corrective measures it will take to improve performance. Performance that does
not meet the standard for any reliability measure is the threshold for triggering
additional scrutiny and potential compliance enforcement actions.
The rolling 12-month standard is 120% of the benchmark for the major
EDCs and 135% for the small EDCs. 17 A greater degree of short-term latitude
recognizes that small EDCs have fewer customers and fewer circuits than large
EDCs, potentially allowing a single event to have a more significant impact on
17 Large EDCs currently include: Allegheny Power, Duquesne Light, Met-Ed, Penelec, Penn Power, PECO and
PPL. Small EDCs include: UGI, Citizens’, Pike County and Wellsboro.
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